Fish-community composition in Otselic River, in the vicinity of Whitney Point Lake, Broome and Cortland counties, New York, 2000

Open-File Report 2001-78

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Abstract

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, has been conducting biological surveys of the
inflow and outflow streams of Whitney Point Lake since the early 1980?s. These surveys are made to
identify possible detrimental effects as well as benefits of the reservoir and to better understand the
aquatic communities in the vicinity of the lake at the present and over time. The U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers and the U.S. Geological Survey jointly conducted a survey of the fish communities upstream
and downstream of the reservoir in Otselic River in September 2000. The fish communities upstream and
downstream were compared and any differences or similarities seen in the communities were noted.
This study found the fish communities upstream and downstream of Whitney Point Lake to be in
good condition, with Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) scores 4.3 upstream and 4.5 downstream. The habitat
conditions of both reaches were of suboptimal quality, with a score of 15 for both reaches as determined by
use of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency?s Rapid Bioassessment Protocols, yet are capable of
supporting fish communities. The Shannon Index was 3.83 upstream and 3.16 downstream of the lake,
indicating that both reaches are slightly impacted by species richness and lack of individual evenness
among the species. The communities also were different from each other. Only 11 of the 21 species
upstream were also captured downstream. The Jaccards Coefficient and the Index of Similarity reflect this
community difference with scores of 0.39 and 0.56, respectively.

Additional publication details

Publication type:

Report

Publication Subtype:

USGS Numbered Series

Title:

Fish-community composition in Otselic River, in the vicinity of Whitney Point Lake, Broome and Cortland counties, New York, 2000

Series title:

Open-File Report

Series number:

2001-78

Edition:

-

Year Published:

2001

Language:

ENGLISH

Description:

iii, 13 p. : map ; 28 cm.

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